---
url: https://lettuceai.app/docs/chat-templates
title: "Chat Templates — LettuceAI"
description: "Create reusable conversation starters with multiple opening sequences, scenes, and prompt overrides for characters."
---

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# Chat Templates

Chat Templates are reusable conversation starters for a specific character. Instead of beginning from a blank session, you can launch a chat with a prepared sequence of opening messages.

They are useful when you want multiple ways to enter the same character: a soft greeting, a hostile encounter, a roleplay setup, or a scene-specific opener.

Chat Templates are not the same as llama.cpp chat templates in model settings. Chat Templates control the opening content of a session. The llama.cpp settings control how messages are formatted for a local model.

## Where to find them

Open a character and go to **Chat Templates** from the character editor. Templates are stored per character, so each character can have their own set of conversation starters.

If you need the broader setup first, read the [Characters guide](/docs/characters).

## What a template includes

Each template can store:

-   A template name
-   An ordered list of starter messages
-   An optional starting scene
-   An optional system prompt template reference
-   An optional lorebook override (different lorebooks for this opener)

The starter messages are limited to two roles:

-   **You** for the user side of the exchange
-   **The character** for assistant replies

Templates do not exist to replace the full prompt system. They exist to shape the first few turns of a chat.

## How authoring works

Inside the template editor, you can:

-   Name the template
-   Add as many opening messages as you need
-   Switch each message between user and character roles
-   Drag messages to reorder them
-   Choose a starting scene for that template
-   Choose a system prompt template for that template

Message order matters. The session starts with the messages exactly as they are arranged in the editor.

## What happens when you start a new chat

If a character has chat templates, starting a new conversation opens a template picker instead of creating the chat immediately.

From there, you can either:

-   Choose one of the character’s templates
-   Choose **No template**

If you choose a template, the app copies that template’s messages into the new session as the opening conversation.

## How scenes behave

-   If you choose **No template**, the chat follows the character’s normal scene path.
-   If you choose a template with a scene attached, that scene is used for the session.
-   If you choose a template without a scene, the session starts without a scene message.

When a scene is used, it appears before the template’s conversation messages.

## How lorebook overrides behave

A chat template can also override which lorebooks are active for the session. If it does, those lorebooks replace the character's normal lorebook selection while the session lasts. If the template does not specify an override, the character's usual lorebook configuration is used.

## Default chat template

You can mark one of a character's chat templates as the default. When a default is set, new chats with that character use that template automatically without showing the picker. You can still pick a different template by opening the picker explicitly.

## How system prompts behave

A chat template can also point to a specific system prompt template. If it does, that prompt template becomes the session’s prompt source.

If the chat template does not specify one, the session falls back to the character’s usual prompt configuration. For the full prompt system, see [System Prompts](/docs/system-prompts).

## Import and export

Chat Templates can be shared and moved around.

-   **JSON export**: a simple native template format
-   **USC export**: a portable Unified System Card format

On import, LettuceAI creates a fresh local template entry for the current character.

## What Chat Templates are good for

-   Multiple openers for the same character
-   Different moods or timelines
-   Reusable first-meeting flows
-   Roleplay setups with a fixed opening exchange
-   Template-specific scenes or prompt behavior

## Tips

-   Keep the opening tight. Two to four messages is often enough.
-   Use separate templates for clearly different moods instead of one overloaded template.
-   Only attach a scene when that template truly needs a different setup.
-   Only attach a system prompt template when that opener needs different behavior, not just different wording.

A good mental model

Think of a Chat Template as a prewritten first exchange plus optional scene and prompt overrides. It shapes how the conversation opens, then the live chat takes over from there.

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